1961
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1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1961.
Its rendering using the Hindu-Arabic numeral system creates a numeral which looks the same when put upside down. The next such year will be 6009.
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Events

- John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States.
- The Fantastic Four make their debut.
- Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
- Sierra Leone becomes independent.
- The Berlin Wall is built.
- The Vietnam War begins.
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- Rockband Golden Earring was founded
Births

January
- January 1 - Mark Wingett, British actor
- January 26 – Wayne Gretzky, Retired Canadian NHL player
- January 28 – Arnaldur Indridason, Icelandic writer
February
- February 13 – Henry Rollins, American musician and activist (Black Flag)
March
- March 3 – John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer
April
- April 1 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
May
- May 6 – George Clooney, American actor
June
- June 4 – Ferenc Gyurcsany, former Prime Minister of Hungary
- June 9 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
- June 14 – Boy George, British singer
- June 18 – Alison Moyet, British singer
- June 25 – Ricky Gervais, British comedian and actor
July
- July 1 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
- July 1 – Carl Lewis, American athlete
- July 23 – Woody Harrelson, American actor
- July 30 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
- July 31 - Peter O'Brien, American drummer (Orleans)
August
- August 4 – Barack Obama, forty-fourth President of the United States of America
- August 8 – The Edge, Irish musician (U2)
- August 9 – John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand
September
- September 28 - George Rossi, Scottish actor (d. 2022)
- September 29 – Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia
October
- October 11 – Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
- October 25 - Chad Smith, American drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- October 26 – Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya
November
- November 12 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
- November 19 – Meg Ryan, American actress
- November 24 – Arundhati Roy, Indian activist and writer
December
- December 24 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
- December 25 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
- December 26 - Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Nigerian senator
- December 27 – Guido Westerwelle, German politician
- December 30 – Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete
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Deaths
- January 4 – Erwin Schroedinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
- January 9 – Emily Greene Balch, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)
- January 17 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician (b. 1925)
- February 3 – Viscount Dunrossil, Australian Governor-General (b. 1893)
- February 9 – Carlos Luz, 19th President of Brazil (b. 1894)
- March 3 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
- March 23 – Valentin Bondarenko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)
- April 9 – Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)
- May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
- June 6 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
- July 2 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer (b. 1899)
- August 20 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
- September 10 – Wolfgang von Trips, German racing driver (b. 1928)
- September 18 – Dag Hammarskioeld, UN Secretary-General (b. 1905)
- October 30 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian politician (b. 1874)
- November 9 – Ferdinand Bie, Norwegian athlete (b. 1888)
- December 20 – Earle Page, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
Nobel Prizes
- Nobel Prize in Physics won by Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, and Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Melvin Calvin, American biochemist
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist
- Nobel Prize in Literature won by Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer
- Nobel Peace Prize won by Dag Hammarskjöld (posthumously), Swedish diplomat
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Movies released

- 101 Dalmatians, an animated movie
- The Absent-Minded Professor by Walt Disney Productions
- Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn
- El Cid starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren
- La Dolce Vita starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg
- The Guns of Navarone with Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn
- The Hustler starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason
- Lover Come Back starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson
- The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills
- West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards
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Hit songs

- "I Fall to Pieces" – Patsy Cline
- "Crazy" – Patsy Cline
- "Where the Boys Are" – Connie Francis
- "Running Scared" – Roy Orbison
- "Crying" – Roy Orbison
- "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" – Gene Pitney
- "Town Without Pity" – Gene Pitney
- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" – The Tokens
- "Calcutta" – Lawrence Welk
- "Runaround Sue" – Dion
- "Let's Go Trippin'" – Dick Dale's first local hit, regarded as first surf rock instrumental
- "Tossin' & Turnin' " – Bobby Lewis
- "Runaway" – Del Shannon
- "Garde-Moi la Dernière Danse" – Dalida
- "Nuits d'Espagne" – Dalida
- "Blue Moon" – The Marcels
- "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" – The Shirelles
- "There's No Other Like My Baby" – The Crystals' first hit
- "Please Mr. Postman" – The Marvelettes
- "Quarter To Three" – Gary U.S. Bonds
- "Shop Around" – The Miracles
- "Travelin' Man" – Ricky Nelson
- "Hello Mary Lou" – Ricky Nelson
- "Stand By Me" – Ben E. King
- "The Wanderer" – Dion
- "The Mountain's High" – Dick and Deedee
- "Big River, Big Man" – Claude King
- "The Commancheros" – Claude King
- "Moody River" – Pat Boone
- "I Love How You Love Me" – The Paris Sisters
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New books

- Border Country – Raymond Williams
- Casanova's Chinese Restaurant – Anthony Powell
- The Chapman Report – Irving Wallace
- Clea – Lawrence Durrell
- Don't Tell Alfred – Nancy Mitford
- For Your Eyes Only – Ian Fleming
- Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss
- Hunters in a Narrow Street – Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
- The Insolences of Brother Anonymous – Jean-Paul Desbiens
- The Many Colored Coat – Morley Callaghan
- Take a Girl Like You – Kingsley Amis
- To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- The Torch – Wilder Penfield
- The Violent Bear It Away – Flannery O'Connor
- The White Stone – Carlo Coccioli
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? – Henry Farrell
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Related pages

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1961.
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